Changes, Changes...

This week has been pretty crazy.

Monday, I tried to get a doctor to write me a letter of recommendation that I could send to my insurance company to get a new processor for my cochlear implant. The doctor refused until I got a test done to see if "the inside part works." It was pretty frustrating. I just wanted to tell him "You were an hour late to see me, now I'm late for work. I just paid 85 bucks to see you for five minutes for you to reject the reason why I'm here. OF COURSE THE INSIDE PART WORKS! It's the outside part that's broken... look at it! It's all mangled and falling apart!" But no, he wanted to give me the runaround. I've been waiting for months and months for a new processor and there's just new reasons popping up for why I can't get one. Hopefully, this gets resolved soon, because it's driving me nuts!

Tuesday, I got let go from my nannying job. Apparently the mom, all of a sudden, decided to stay at home. So, that means I got a three day notification, leaving me with no job and no money til I find another one to last me til I move to Tennessee. I hope I get blessed with finding a way to make money.. heaven knows I need it.

Wednesday, I got a stomach bug.

Today is Thursday. Stomach bug is gone. It's the last day of work. At least I can see this event from a humorous point of view. So, last night, I decided to set my alarm for 5 AM so I could work on my painting. I went into a rut for a few weeks, but now I'm back! I've been working on a painting of a butterfly, which is going to be awesome. It's more of a design, but I'm pretty sure it'll sell so I'm very excited to finish it. Well, 5 AM came around and I decided I didn't wanna work on my painting and to sleep in til 6:15. (In my mind at the moment, 6:15 was the time I was supposed to wake up and go to work.) Well, I slept in til 6:20 and freaked out cause I had to leave in 20 minutes to make it to work on time. It was 6:45 by the time I was done and I was freaking out cause I was going to be SO LATE! While I was speeding down the highway, I realized.... It was 6:45 and I didn't have to go to work til 8.

Yeah.

It was too late to turn around and go home, so I decided to go to Target, but it was closed til 8. JUST MY LUCK!!! So, I'm at McDonald's writing this informal journal/blog hoping that someday I'll look back on this and laugh!

Also, my boyfriend has been gone on trek, a latter day saints event where the young men and women go out in the wilderness dressed as pioneers and walk for 10, 20, 30 miles while pulling and pushing handcarts. The point of trek, is to give the people who attend, a small taste of what the pioneers experienced. I haven't spoken to him in two days, which is kinda hard cause he would be the one who helped me get through the long days at work by keeping me distracted from the occasional boredom. I won't be able to talk to him til he picks me up on Friday.

Oh yes! I'm going to Tennessee tomorrow! It'll be my first time in the middle/southeast part of the United States and I'm so excited! I guess I can consider it a "celebration" for surviving work and as a nice break til I have to come home and find another job. Also, I get to see my boyfriend! I haven't seen him for a month and a half! It's been really hard... but the day is finally here! (Almost.)

Well, that's pretty much my week, folks! I know it's not anything TOO exciting but I just had to vent!!! I feel a little better now. I'd like to thank everyone for their support by reading my blog! It means a lot! I'm always surprised by how many people come and read what I have to say. You guys are the best!

Til next time!

Laura

Just... Life.

I think it's about time for an update on here. Life's been pretty uneventful, so it's taken me the past 4 months to gather up enough events to produce a decently lengthed blog post.

 What have I been up to lately you may ask? Well, not much if you compare it to what I was up to in Europe! But I guess it's not too bad!

 Let's see. March, I started a new job nannying, as I mentioned in my last post. 3 kids. Elena, 11; Alexander, 9; and James, 7. They're relatively average kids... sometimes good, sometimes bad, sometimes terrible, sometimes sweet, sometimes cute, sometimes not so cute. You know. They're on year round school, so I started out when they were off track, meaning I had to entertain them for 10 hours a day. Which was hard. These kids are the kinds that LOVE to explore, play, and constantly need full attention. It's not a bad thing at all! I'd be fine with that, but I've had a tough time with my cochlear implant processor being broken. Right now, I'm just wearing a hearing aid... which gives me about 30% of hearing. That means, I can only understand 30% of what they say. Well, with my hard efforts, maybe 50% or 60%. If I try really really hard and they speak clearly enough. It just sounds like someone's covering their mouth while they're talking, so it's really muffled. So yeah, the constant effort of trying to understand the kids absolutely wears me out after a while and then I kinda just want some alone time to re-gather myself. After 2 weeks of 10-plus hour days, the kids finally went off track, which meant I only had to babysit 2 1/2 hours a day, which was nice, but meant a whole lot less money. Right now, they are on summer break, so I'm working full time again. I'll be honest. After a while of not having my cochlear implant, I've been slacking on nannying. I've kind of withdrawn to myself, not really wanting to talk or listen or play. It's a bad thing, I know, but I just kinda couldn't help it.

 Anyway, I went to Washington for a week to visit with my family. It was absolutely amazing and such a great break! I always love going to visit my family... it's always great to see my little brothers, sister, grandparents, biological mother, and other family. Plus, Washington is such a beautiful place. I always miss it when I leave.

 While I was in Washington, I got to see my sister, Kendra, graduate from high school. It was great! I'm so excited for her to take a huge step in her life. She will be moving to Utah and attending the Latter Day Saints Business College (LDSBC) in Salt Lake City. I'm so excited for her to move to Utah! Unfortunately, she's moving to Utah the same time I'm moving to Tennessee... (To be explained soon.)

After my blissful trip to the Evergreen State, I returned to work. Apparently, while I was gone, the kids had gotten a really good nanny to sub for me. The first thing 7 year old James told me when he saw me was, "I liked our other nanny more than you! She played with us ALL DAY and talked to us, WAY more than you do!"

 Can you say, "OUCH."

 It was kinda a wake up call for me, that I needed to play with the kids more, even if I'm having a frustrating time with not being able to hear. But at the same time, the kids were disrespecting me because of my hearing, which made me not really motivated at all to help them out, cause I had explained over and over how my hearing works and how they need to talk to me and respect me, but they just never listened and I was at the point where I was DONE. Anyway, that day was a really bad day. The kids didn't care about me anymore. They were running wild throughout the house and it was like I wasn't even there. Nothing I said or did mattered to them... it was like I was invisible. They trashed the house, with me running behind them trying to pick up and clean up, while scolding them and trying to get them to do the things they needed to do. Nothing worked. Scolding, yelling, speaking in a firm voice, eye contact, taking away privileges, etc... everything on the list.. nothing worked. They would just laugh and walk away. I just wanted to cry!

 The next day, the mom got way mad at me cause of what happened the day before. I just couldn't take it anymore. I started to explain what was going on and how the kids were misbehaving, and then I just burst into tears. Between sobs, I explained how I felt like I try hard to get the kids to listen to me and respect me, but nothing worked. I told her what happened the day before, and how hard I tried to get them to behave themselves but ended up being stomped into the ground like I was worthless. After hearing my side of the story, the mom was very disappointed in her children. She gave the oldest a lecture (and I'm sure that night, she gave the two younger a good lecture as well, because the next day they were much better), and told her that she had to be my ears, along with other things about behavior. The day went much better after communicating with the mother and children. I played with the kids all day. It seemed to me, that all of a sudden, they realized that I REALLY can't hear them. That I do care for them and I really try to communicate with them. There was a total 180 in the children, as well as myself.

 Yesterday, I went swimming with them. They made the effort to look at me and talk to me so I could read their lips, and used their hands to gesture what they were saying, which helped a lot. Oh, I can't tell you how much that meant to me! I feel so blessed that everything is finally working out with the children! It was a hard 3 1/2 months trying to deal with them, but now it is much easier. I have a feeling that the next two months will be alright.

 Now, the moment is here to announce that I am moving to Tennessee on August 25th!

 Why?

 Well, a few months ago, I started dating this wonderful and amazing guy who's name is Adam Farley. Truly, he is the best man I have ever met! Hard working, kind, sweet, gentle, loving, and strong in the church. He has such a good heart and loves me to the moon and back... and more. He's so talented in many things, a jack of all trades. Many people love him, including my parents and sisters, which is a first!I know if THEY approve of him, he's definitely a keeper. All of my friends and other family approve of him as well, with no hesitation. That's how amazing he is!

 I met Adam through a friend while we were carpooling to church together. Adam joined us for the ride. When I first met him, he looked like a mountain man. Full on beard and shaggy hair. I was kinda like, "eh...", but as I got to know him on the way to church, I figured he was a really cool guy and thought we'd make good "friends." Later, he got my number and asked me on a date. I wasn't really interested but figured I'd give him a chance and go on a fun date.

 A few nights later, he showed up on my front door, dressed in a nice button-up shirt and with his hair cut and his beard shaved. I hardly recognized him! He took me to a fancy Italian restaurant to remind me of my trip in Italy. I had an amazing time. I went on a second date with him, then a third, then a forth... and it kinda went from there. You get it. We were stuck like glue since the first date and spent every day together.

 So, I'm moving to Nashville, to be closer to him. He means so much to me and I feel that we are going to have a great future together. Moving to Tennessee is going to be a great adventure, and I am so excited for it! I'm sad to be leaving my family, but it may be for a short while. If not, I'm going to be sure they get flown out to visit as much as possible, and I'm going to make sure I go to visit them as much as possible too! Life has been good to me. A bit hard lately, with not being able to hear and being away from my wonderful boyfriend. But, in a few weeks hopefully, I'll be able to hear. And in two months, I'll finally get to be with the love of my life.

 So yeah, this blog post turned out to be longer than I thought, so thanks to everyone who actually read to this point here. I'd like to thank all my friends and family for their love, support, and care. It means a lot. I love you all!

 Til next time,

 Laura